The Harry Potter stories may top the bestsellers’ lists worldwide, but he and other modern fictional characters could not compete against Lewis’s classic. His story of four siblings who go through a magic wardrobe and enter the once-peaceful world of Narnia has bewitched generations of readers since it was written in 1950.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes sixth in the list. It is the only one of J. K. Rowling’s seven novels to make the top 50 all-time favourites.

The poll of 4,000 people aged 16 to 65 was conducted by the charity Booktrust to support its government-backed initiative Bookstart, which provides children with free books.

Despite my appreciation for the Harry Potter books (I read them all last fall, and we just started re-watching the movies in chronological sequence) I'm quite happy about Lewis' continued dominance. And "his" movies are only just starting to roll out, putting his books even more in the public eye. If this poll gets conducted again, 20 years from now, I'm sure the results would vary, but I'd still put my money on Lewis.